The Nightmare Prophecy
by FlyingZebraStraws
Summary: Louise Weston could never remember anything she happened to say that involved the Doctor, except, of course, for the prophecy that binds her to him, 'As the windows darken and time unfolds, from pain the nightmare will usher in new life, and the truth will be revealed in the final moment.' Who exactly is Louise? How is she connected to the Doctor? And...what's wrong with your eyes?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Enter the girl

It was a run of the mill stop in Cardiff, the Doctor had decided to park his Tardis to fuel up while he walked around the area. Who knows, maybe something interesting would happen. The Doctor grabbed his fancy long brown trench coat and set off down the street. The street, at the moment, seemed to be completely deserted, which was highly unusual for this particular road lined with shops and restaurants. All of which also seemed to be empty. So then, where the heck is everyone?! It wasn't a holiday, as far as the Doctor could recall, and there didn't seem to be any great threat that would cause people to hide or die or be abducted...so what on Earth is going on?

Suddenly there was an earth shaking explosion from around the corner a few blocks down. Car alarms sounded and smoke was rising from where the Doctor assumed the explosion went off. He started to jog in the direction of the explosion but before he could get past half a block, a girl ran into the main road from where the explosion was. She slung a massive weapon onto her back and ran as fast as she possibly could with those heavy black combat boots weighing her down, straight towards the doctor. Every couple feet of so the ground would dent upwards, as if something were pushing up from beneath the pavement. As the girl neared the Doctor, she paused, grabbed his hand and shouted, "Doctor, RUN!" So, they ran.

The girl released his hand in favor of running faster and she was able to run ahead of him by a couple dozen paces. Every second or so, the girl would look behind them, terrified, and run just a bit faster. She suddenly turned the corner and ducked behind a dumpster, covering her mouth and nose with her hand so that her heavy breathing would not give away her location. Then, the Doctor turned the corner, but could see no sign of the mysterious girl that somehow knew his name. He slowed to a walk and stood in the middle of the alley, panting and wondering where the hell the girl could've gone. He slowly turned in a circle to ascertain his surroundings and spotted the girl cowering behind the dumpster. The girl's eyes widened in terror as she bolted up onto her feet. She slowly raised her hands into the air.

"P-please, I don't have any money, please don't hurt me!" The girl exclaimed in fear. The Doctor was completely bewildered.

"Money? What? I'm not going to hurt you, just tell me your name. What was that thing we were running from? And how do you know my name?!"

The girl slowly lowered her hands and braced herself on the wall. She was utterly confused. "I was running from you! You just started chasing me! And I have no idea who you are, i'm sorry!"

Aaaannd, now the Doctor was completely lost. "No, just a moment ago, there was an explosion, you were running from something, then you grabbed my hand and told me to run, so I did. What was that thing? Who are you?"

The girl sighed in resignation, it was happening again. "I'm sorry, sir, but I don't remember any of that. It happens to me a lot, I just forget things. ...um...I'm Louise. Louise Weston. And you are?"

The Doctor seemed like he was deep in thought, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes were unfocused. "I'm the Doctor...," he mumbled.

Louise tilted her head slightly, causing one of her two dark brown braids to fall behind her shoulder. "Doctor? Doctor who?"

The Doctor seemed to snap back into place, "Ah, no, just the Doctor, Doctor is fine." He looked at the strange girl intently, "Louise, you said you forgot what you were running from, but you look like you're dressed for combat, and you have a massive gun on your back..."

Louise smiled and pulled the gun from her body, she held it our for him to see. "It's a PHASER," she explained, "Photon Harmonizing Atom Splitting Ergonomic Revolver, its good for ten, quick, mid-range bursts, but it needs a thirty minute recharge once the shots are used up."

The doctor knew immediately that this weapon wasn't human, and this technology was far too advanced for the time. "Louise, where exactly did you get this?" he asked as he looked her in her eyes, trying to detect a lie.

Her bright blue eyes suddenly dulled, before brightening again and growing confused. She tilted her head slightly again, "You just handed it to me, Doctor. Er, sorry, you can have it back, I just wanted to see it." She held the gun out to him.

The Doctor's eyes widened, he walked even closer to her, placed the gun on top of the dumpster, and gently placed his fingertips on her temples, "Louise, this won't hurt a bit, i'm going to try to help you, ok? Just close your eyes and open your mind." Louise nodded her head slightly and let her eyes drift shut. Immediately, she could feel the doctor probing about her mind. She could feel him looking at things, trying to find something, but couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was, or even sense the memories and thoughts he was trying to find and see. As he searched, the doctor's eyebrows furrowed and he frowned slightly.

"Louise, its like there are doors, blocking everything. Every time I try to look, they slam shut. Try to open some of them, try to remember something, anything.."

Louise focused on what she was just doing, she was talking to the Doctor, she knew that, but what about before that? She backtracked each running step, from where she was now until whatever it was she was doing before. All of a sudden, she could remember running towards the doctor, she shouted at him to run, she said his name and grabbed his hand and dragged him along with her! Then, she could remember the road cracking beneath her feet, she could remember holding that massive gun and firing at...something. She couldn't see what she shot at, it was getting dark and fuzzy and hot. The Doctor was able to see all of this, but his connection in her mind suddenly felt like it was burning him, and the door slammed shut in his face. The Doctor snapped back to himself, just in time to catch this strange girl as she collapsed, unconscious.

The Doctor held the sleeping girl in his arms, while he himself leaned against the dirty alley wall and tried to stop himself from shaking. Once he composed himself, he picked up the girl, briefly noticing how small and light she was. He had no choice but to carry her back to his Tardis, after all, he couldn't just leave an unconscious girl alone in an alleyway. He pushed open the Tardis door and kicked it shut. The doctor didn't have a proper place to lay her down, so he carried her deeper into the Tardis and laid her down in a soft bed in the spare bedroom down the hall from his own (which he hardly ever used).

As the Doctor rushed back through the console room, the Tardis whirred in disapproval. Honestly, the doctor agreed, he really shouldn't leave some strange girl alone in his time machine, but it couldn't be helped, besides, she was unconscious. With that minimal comfort in mind, the Doctor rushed out of his Tardis, locked it, and ran down the street to where the explosion was earlier.

Insert cool explanation about how the Doctor saved the day and rescued all of the missing people

By the time the Doctor strolled back to his Tardis, it was sunset, and he was smiling from another job well done, another date to add to his "times I saved the Earth," list. And, the girl would surely be awake. The first thing the Doctor did when he got back was rush to where he left Louise to check on her. The door opened silently and he stepped in. Louise was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed and her arms folded around herself. Her big blue eyes were bloodshot and dried tears streaked across her pale cheeks, she had been crying and awake for who knows how long. She looked up at him when he entered.

"Doctor," she whispered, "I don't know where I am...I think I forgot again..." She buried her face in her hands. The Doctor rushed over and sat on the bed with her.

"No, no no. You're okay, you were unconscious. I tried to find what you were forgetting, but something pushed me out. You're safe, you'll be ok," he said softly, trying to comfort her.

She looked into his deep brown eyes, "Are we...are we in your Tardis?" The Doctor's eyes widened again, "How did you know that? How do you know what a Tardis is?" His voice shook ever so slightly. He could feel confusion and rage and fear bubbling up inside of him. Who is this girl and how does she know these things?!

Louise's eyes dulled again, before looking up at him in confusion. "What's a Tardis?"

The doctor couldn't understand what was going on. For some reason, this strange girl seemed to know all about him, his Tardis, and alien technology, but couldn't remember anything she said or did involving it! He knew he would have to keep an eye on this very peculiar, very strange girl. But, she was obviously frightened. Maybe it wasn't her? Maybe there was something inside of her? Regardless, she seemed harmless enough, and he didn't want to scare her even more...plus, it would be nice to have someone else in the Tardis again alongside him...

The Doctor smiled at her a bit, "Why don't I show you? C'mon!" He grabbed Louise's hand, pulled her up off the bed, and led her to the console room.

Once inside, Louise dropped his hand and walked forward, eye wide with wonder. Her hands lightly trailed over the console, fueling her wonder and excitement. It was almost as if the Tardis was alive. Louise could feel the Tardis's energy all around her, she could almost feel her breathing and looking right back at her, almost like she was being examined. Louise tried to greet the Tardis's energy with her own, and was met with apprehensive warmth, like the machine was glad she was here, but also didn't like her. It almost felt like the Tardis was...afraid of her? Louise drew her hand back to her body and turned back to the Doctor, who was standing and watching her the whole time. She smiled at him, "She's beautiful. Absolutely remarkable! And she can travel through space and time? How does that work? Are you alone? There's a lot of controls, shouldn't there be a whole crew? And how is a ship this massive not detected by the people on earth? They would notice something this big! Unless, does this ship have a cloaking device? Are we invisible right now?!"

The Doctor was amused by all of her questions, and glad that she was so curious, but also a bit apprehensive about answering her questions, she did, after all, seem to already know that the Tardis could travel through time and space. "Well, aren't you curious. Alright, alright, slow down," he chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I'm the only one, but that is exactly the perfect number of controls, i'll have you know," he joked, causing Louise to smile more. "As for cloaking, why don't you take a look outside?" He nodded his head to the door. Louise raised an eyebrow at him, but walked to the door and creaked it open. She saw that just outside of the ship appeared to be solid ground, so she stepped outside. And turned around. And looked. And had to pick her jaw up off the floor. What?! How?! She walked all the way around the ship, twice, running her hand along the outside of the wooden box, poking her head inside the door. The Doctor watched her from inside, barely containing his mirth. Louise walked back in, eyes wide and sparkling, jaw dropped, and smiling. She walked to him and excitedly asked, "It's smaller on the outside?! How does it do that? Oh! Is it a time lord thing?!"

The smile immediately fell from the Doctor's face. Her ran to the doors, closed and locked them, and dragged Louise to the console room bench and sat her down. He paced in front of her, trying to figure out how to ask her who she is and what she's doing here. As for Louise, she was completely lost. Had she said something wrong? Wait...had she even said anything at all? She remembered walking around the outside of the Tardis...then she was suddenly here...

The Doctor finally stopped pacing and looked into Louise's confused eyes. "Who are you, Louise? Who are you really?" She honestly couldn't answer, she had no idea what he was talking about. The Doctor sighed and leaned against the console behind him, his feet barely an inch away from hers. To Louise, he looked like a giant, towering over her like that. Well, actually, he already towers over her by at least a whole foot, but it's more intimidating when she'd sitting. "Tell me about yourself, where are you from? Siblings, parents, pets, friends, a job?"

Louise shifted in her seat, mildly uncomfortable with the sudden interrogation. "I'm from dorchester, I moved to London last month because I just turned nineteen. I don't have any siblings, my mom is... a post office manager and my dad is...in the military...I haven't seen either of them in years. I can't really remember any friends, but I think they were there. I don't have any kind of job, except for my assignments. They told me to hunt for alien activity in the UK, they said I would eventually run into you and then the prophecy would start..." Louise trailed off, her eyes suddenly very dull and unfocused, before they went back to normal, "Oh, and I used to have a dog named spot, but I had to give him away to a neighbor when I moved to London..." She looked back up at the Doctor, who was standing up straight with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes were glaring but his face had lost most of its color. Louise felt a chill go through her and she slunk down lower in her seat.

" _Who_ told you to try to find me? _What prophecy?!"_ The Doctor bit out, trying to control his anger and fear.

Louise looked up at him, eyes duller than ever. She looked right through him and spoke in a monotone voice, "My friends, from so long ago, they told me I must, _As the windows darken and time unfolds, from pain the nightmare will usher in new life, and the truth will be revealed in the final moment._ "

She was dizzy for a second, but Louise shook her head a bit and looked up at the doctor, about to ask him what exactly he meant, but saw that he was gripping the console tightly behind him and he looked pale and confused. In his mind, the Doctor had no idea what to do. Some people had sent this girl to find him and she was somehow tied to him in prophecy. Dread settled heavily in his stomach. He'd have to keep her around, he couldn't just have this girl wander off, but he also didn't want to put himself or anyone else in danger...

"Doctor? ...Are you alright?" She stood and touched his arm gently, "Doctor?"

He seemed to break out of whatever war he was waging in his mind and smiled faintly at her, making a last minute decision to keep her around, he answered, "Yes, sorry. Right. Well then. What do you say? Want to come on an adventure with me? See the stars? All of time and space, hmm?"

Louise's eyes light up like fireworks at the offer, she grabbed his arm excitedly, "Really? Can I? You'd really take me with you?! Yes, please!" She hugged him around the waist, "thank you! thank you! thank you!"

The doctor chuckled and pried her off of him, "Right then, where do you want to go?" The doctor started to pull on seemingly random levers and push seemingly random buttons.

Louise thought for a moment, she smiled and said, "Doctor, take me somewhere _spectacular_."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Spectacular

 _Louise thought for a moment, she smiled and said, "Doctor, take me somewhere spectacular."_

The Doctor knew the perfect place! He had never been to this particular planet, but he had been to others near by and had heard amazing things. He set the coordinates, pulled a giant lever, and away they flew! The Tardis shook and rumbled, causing Louise to grasp onto the console for dear life, not expecting it to jostle around so much. Soon, the shaking calmed and the two on board could feel the ship land safely. Louise turned to the doctor, excitement shining in her bright blue eyes.

"What's out there?" Louise asked, already walking towards the doors. The Doctor followed, grinning all the time. By far, one of the best parts of traveling with people is seeing their faces when they first step foot onto a different planet. Louise opened the door and gasped aloud. Tentatively she stepped outside and onto the plush grassy field. The Doctor leaned against the Tardis doorway and watched as Louise walked out further and slowly spun, taking in the sights surrounding them. All around them were massive red flowers peeking up from around the tall aquamarine colored grass. The sky was a clear lavender and the sun shown down on the land with soft, sparkling white light. In the distance, there were dark purple mountains topped with swirling white clouds surrounding the entire valley. Tiny sparks of soft white light rose up out of the grass and fluttered around Louise like fireflies. In the distance, just at the top of the hill, there was a massive dark red tree made of what appeared to be swirling vines. Finally, after many long moments of admiring the beauty surrounding them and softly laughing to herself, her eyes finally returned to the Doctor. She grinned at him and asked, "am I...are we on a different planet? I've never seen anything like this! This is incredible!"

The Doctor nodded excitedly, "We are standing on planet khun, on the opposite side of the Milky Way galaxy, in the year 400,029. You asked for spectacular, here, Louise, is spectacular!" The Doctor gestured around them with a wide sweeping arm. "C'mon, let's explore," he said, gesturing for Louise to follow. The pair began walking towards the vine tree at the top of the nearest hill, but the Doctor couldn't help but feel that something was off…

"So, if there is plant-life here, is there any intelligent life? Are there aliens here? What do we do if we meet an alien? Will they look like us? Or will they be, like, green, or something? Do you think they'd speak english? What kinds of things do aliens eat? Do aliens even need to eat?..." Louise rattled off her questions as soon as they entered her mind, she was still admiring her surroundings and not really paying attention to where she was going. The doctor only chuckled slightly, happy that this girl was so curious. He found it oddly endearing how she was acting like a puppy or young child at the moment. He had intended on answering at least a few of her questions as soon as she paused to finally take a breath, but was interrupted by the ground beneath them shaking violently. The two grabbed each other's forearms and steadied themselves during the khun-quake. Once it settled, the Doctor looked around to survey the area.

"This planet has never experienced tectonic shift, it doesn't even have a magmatic core..." the Doctor looked Louise in the eye, "so then what was that...?" The Doctor grinned at the prospect of another adventure, Louise returned the gesture with wide eyes and a shaky smile.

"Are we in danger?" Louise asked, unsure if they were safe here, but the Doctor shook his head slightly, "I don't know," he replied, "isn't this fun!" His excitement prompted a small giggle to escape past Louise's lips. The Doctor clapped his hands once and motioned for them to continue, "allons-y!"

The Doctor managed to walk forward a few paces before Louise had to stop him, "Doctor! Doctor come back, I can't move. Something has got my foot!" The tall man could see that she was trying to walk towards him, trying to fight against whatever her foot was stuck in, but it wouldn't move. He maneuvered back over to her and crouched by her foot to examine the situation. Her caught boot shifted slightly as she stopped trying to pull it away and the doctor could see almost exactly what had happened.

He looked up to the dark haired girl, "Louise, you stepped on one of the flowers, you have a vine wrapped around your boot. Stay calm for a quick minute, ok?" Louise nodded back at him, snapping her mouth shut. The doctor gently touched the deep red vine, but it immediately contracted even tighter around Louise's ankle. She gasped in pain at how tight the alien vine gripped her. He quickly pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket and tried to analyze the strange vine.

Almost as soon as the sonic started whirring, the vine quickly pulled away from the Doctor, almost as if in pain. Unfortunately, this caused Louise to lose her balance and she collapsed onto her bottom right next to the Doctor. He laughed sheepishly and apologised. He moved over to where the vine now was, wondering what the heck it was. He could see that the vine was quickly growing and creeping up Louise's leg. Louise could both see and feel this and panicked, "Doctor! Get this thing off of me!" She shook her leg, trying to dislodge the red, stem-like vine. The Doctor tried to reach out to calm her, he tried to tell her to stop, but it was no use. Louise was quickly being pulled away on her stomach towards the tall vine tree up the hill. She reached out to his swiftly retreating form, yelling after him, "Doctor! Help!"

The Doctor chased after the poor girl's body being dragged across the cerulean field. As they neared the top of the hill, a membranous doorway opened into the dark, cavernous inside of the tree. The vines pulled Louise inside the darkness and sealed themselves as soon as he reached them. He could hear Louise's last high pitched scream, from inside, before it was abruptly cut off.

The doctor's hearts were racing. He pounded on the membranous barrier, injuring his hand in the process. He hadn't expected it to be so hard and sticky. He wiped the door slime off on his pant leg and retrieved his handy dandy sonic screwdriver again, hoping that the door would recoil like the vine did earlier. He pointed it at the door, like a magic wand, and send an energy pulse through the door. There was an extremely high pitched wail, almost like a dog whistle, and the door slip up, recoiling from the foreign energy. The doctor ducked inside the cavern, which was surprisingly well lit by bioluminescent fungus and those tiny firefly-like bugs from outside. He noticed that there was a single corridor that wound far down into the depths of the planet. So, he walked, as slowly and quietly as he could, not wanting to disturb the walls of vines that surrounded him on all sides. As the Doctor walked down the path, he noticed that there human sized lumps, completely cocooned in thick red vines, projecting outwards from the otherwise flat walls. Curious, he used his sonic screwdriver to send a micropulse of energy that would normally go completely undetected. But that pulse was just enough to cause the vines to shift, revealing a humanoid head with emerald green skin. It appeared to be a man in his early forties in a completely comatose state. The doctor used his sonic to evaluate the person's condition and found that this body had no brainwave activity, but that he also wasn't completely dead either, just mostly dead. It was like the body was an empty shell.

A cold shiver shot down the Doctor's spine, he felt like he was being watched. He elected in that moment to get moving again so that he could try to find Louise. As he continued down the path, he noticed that there were more and more people in vine cocoons, now barely two inches of space between one another. He also noticed that the light was different the further down he went. There were fewer and fewer patches of glowing fungus, and more and more white fireflies. Eventually, the passage was lit exclusively by the little buggers. His mind was searching for a connection between the vines, the people, and the bugs. Why were there so many bugs so far underground? The Doctor quickened his pace until he came across a glowing wall of fireflies. He tried to think of a way to get past them and slowly raised a hand to try to touch the wall. His finger ever so delicately brushed across a few of them, causing them to scatter and flutter in circles around him. He'd be lying if he said it wasn't absolutely magical. It only lasted a moment, though, and as they all flew even further down the pathway and lined the now flat walls, a partially cocooned Louise was revealed. The doctor rushed to her side.

Louise seemed to be almost completely covered in thick red vines, with only her chest and head exposed. Her eyes were closed and she didn't seem to be breathing. The Doctor immediately whipped out his sonic and scanned her body for any signs of life and brain activity. What he saw was alarming, her pulse was dangerously low and she seemed to be in an extremely deep sleep. But she was alive. The doctor bent at the waist until he was face to face with her and cupped his hands around her cold, pale cheeks.

"Hey, Louise, can you hear me? Hang on, don't die, ok? I'm going to get you out-" He started worriedly before she suddenly interrupted him.

"Doctor...don't...go down...the heart...it's the heart...we'll all...be...free..." Her eyes never opened, but her brainwaves spiked every time she spoke. The Doctor was about to say something about getting her out right then, but the vines quickly covered the rest of her body. As the vines covered her face, a shining dark blue dot formed on her forehead and a little blue firefly flew into the doctor's hair just as the vines covered where it formed from.

The little blue bug flew in front of the Doctor's face and circled his head once before darting in front of him further down the passageway. The Doctor had no choice but to follow the bug, suspecting that it was somehow Louise. Jogging through the downward spiraling path, it didn't take Long for him to reach a massive red glowing chamber. There were seven protrusions from the walls, which looked exactly like the innumerable protrusions lining the walls of the structure, but if these were people...then they had to be at least eight feet tall. The Doctor couldn't think about that now, though, Louise's firefly was circling his head again to get his attention. Once it succeeded, it zipped to a glowing, pulsating mound of vines and landed delicately atop of it.

"Is this the heart?" The Doctor asked. As if answering, the blue firefly floated over to him and handed softly on his chest. The Doctor approached the mound and aimed his screwdriver at it. He clicked the button and sent a small electric pulse into the vines, as he did before. Like before, the vines seemed to recoil and revealed a large, pulsating red crystal. Louise's firefly gently landed on the crystal, then flew and landed softly on the Doctor's hand, indicating that he should pick it up. The Doctor gingerly lifted the crystal out of its pit and stared into it's hypnotic light for just a moment. The light seemed to fill the room, and was only broken by the little blue bug on his hand and a few white bugs that had just flown into the room. There was suddenly loud cracking noises as the vines surrounding the giant cocooned figures dried and fell apart, revealing people in regal robes and ancient finery. The little white fireflies that flew into the room a moment ago each darted into the foreheads of the figures and disappeared in a flash of white. The little blue firefly began circling around the Doctor's head again and seemed to almost pull him back towards the way they came in. He followed the bug back up the path, watching as the fireflies that lined the walls scattered up the path. When the Doctor reached Louise's cocoon, the vines again began to unravel and break apart, slowly revealing her unconscious body. When her face was cleared off enough, the little blue bug flew into her forehead and vanished in a flash of light. The rest of the vines fell from her body and she collapsed forward, right into the Doctor's waiting arms

"Doctor?" Louise asked for him and slowly opened her eyes, only to find the doctor grinning down at her, "Doctor! Oh, you brilliant man! Thank you! You've saved us all!" She quickly hugged him around the waist, "c'mon, i'll explain when we get out of here, but first we have to wake everybody else up!"

The Doctor nodded at her and followed her through the spiraling corridor, red light bathing every wall and cocoon as the seven regal figures from before followed in silence. They all walked in silence slowly up the path, letting the light touch everything and release the place from whatever spell it was under. By the time they reached the membranous entrance from before, there were hundreds of people following them, eager to see the late afternoon sunlight. As the last person stepped into the light, the tree of deep red vines turned brown and brittle, shattering into dust under it's own weight. The Doctor and Louise stood side by side and watched the native peoples cheer and embrace. Families were found and regrouped and friends embraced in sheer joy. Apart from the crowd, the seven 8 foot tall leaders approached the duo. They observed the pair with intensely bright white eyes the size golfballs. One stepped forward from the group and gestured for the Doctor to return the crystal. Once it had the crystal, the other six each pressed a single finger to the red crystal. The red seemed to evaporate out of the crystal until it was completely clear and glowed bright white. The group of seven once again turned to Louise and the Doctor and bowed deeply before turning to address their newly freed people.

Louise turned to the Doctor, smiling widely, "c'mon Doctor, let's go back." The Doctor and Louise turned back to walk towards the Tardis. Louise couldn't help but notice that all of the red flowers in the field had wilted. The Doctor couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable that he just apparently saved another planet and still had not idea what was going on. Well, Louise did say that she would explain later, and later could be right then, so it couldn't've hurt to ask.

"Louise, what...exactly just happened?" He asked, rubbing his ear lobe. He felt awkward asking his new companion about what had just happened, but it couldn't be helped, he had to know.

Louise smiled back at him and replied, "those people, they're the Khun. When I was in that...cocoon...thing, I could hear everybody talking. I know they were speaking a different language, but it was like I could understand them! It must've been some sort of telepathic field...and I think the Tardis somehow translated it for me" she trailed off, eyes dulling for a split second. the doctor confirmed her suspicions, though he had no idea how she could know about the Tardis's language filter, and prompted her to continue. "Anyways, they told me about who they are, they said that something terrible happened long ago. Something that would've wiped out all sentient life on Khun. So, they grew a safehouse. With the energy in that crystal acting like a kind of seed, that vine tree grew, only, once everyone thought they were safe inside and ready to wait out the danger, it became parasitic. The vines wrapped them up to preserve their bodies and use them as food and energy, but they knew how to transport their consciousnesses into a different form, hence, all of the white fireflies. The vines wanted to use me as energy too, but while it was trying to cover me, I could hear them trying to tell me how to do it too. I think that's when you came along...but then it was dark. And suddenly I could see everything differently, it was all hazy, but the people were telling me what to do, so I got you to pick up the crystal and...well, you know the rest," she finished with a light chuckle.

The Doctor smiled at Louise, finally understanding the situation. He couldn't help but feel a smidge of pride well up in his chest. "Why Louise, I think you just saved an entire species! Funny thing, the Khun mysteriously vanished about four hundred years ago, and suddenly reappeared, as if by magic; just picking up right where they left off!"

Louise giggled, "That must mean i'm magic, then!"

He laughed and smiled down at her, "Must be! One thing that I found interesting, though. All of those people's bugs were white, but yours was blue! What do you make of that?" He had a fairly good idea as to why that might be, but he wanted to see how she would respond.

She seemed to ponder it a bit, her dark eyebrows furrowed, she bit her bottom lip, and grabbed one of her twin braids in her hand. "Well," she began, "it could be that i'm different, to them i'm an alien. They have green skin, after all, we must look pretty strange to them!" The doctor smiled at that, but she continued, "but I think it's something different. I noticed that every one of them has pure white eyes, and they all have white bugs. I have blue eyes, and therefore a blue bug," Louise concluded.

As the two reached the Tardis, the doctor unlocked the door for them. He turned his head to her, "You think that's what it is?"

They entered the console room and Louise smiled, shrugged, and said, "Could be, you know what they say, Doctor, the eyes are the windows to the soul." And with that final thought, Louise let the Tardis door drift closed behind her.


End file.
